Residents slam ORT’s ‘flawed’ water bills

The Mthatha Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (MRRA) has slammed the current system as flawed.

The association said it had received numerous complaints from ratepayers who had received bills without their meters being read.

In one case a resident received a bill of around R30000, while others told the association they were being billed for a neighbour’s water use.

But the municipality said there was nothing wrong with the system and all queries raised around billing were attended to and resolved.

MRRA spokesman Madyibi Ngxekana said the association had tried on numerous occasions to raise the matter with the municipality, to no avail.

Ngxekana said the association was also concerned about the system of billing properties used for business and domestic households.

“The system they are using now is that if you have one toilet at home you are billed lower, whereas a person with two or more toilets is billed higher.

“Our logic is that the household with one toilet could have seven or more people living there while the one with two may only have two or three people.

“We are also concerned about the fact that businesses use properties that are billed in the same category as domestic use properties. This needs to change,” said Ngxekana.

Noxolo Pohlwana, the secretary of the MRRA, said she had recently received a bill of just under R30000.

“I went to the municipality to query this and they told me my meter was in the yard and that meter readers find it difficult to access.

“That is not true because the meter is not in the yard and it is easily accessible.

“To make things worse they told me that I was billed on average usage of R1000 per month because they did not read my meter. I do not know how they came to that conclusion,” said Pohlwana.

Northcrest resident Nomhle Ntuli’s water meter has been submerged for more than five years.

Ntuli said he reported the matter on numerous occasions and if it was fixed, it would not be long before it was covered in water again. He said this made it impossible for OR Tambo water meter readers to access the meter.

“It has been overflowing with water for years. I do not know who does the the reading because they bill me every month. It is submerged in water and is inaccessible.

“The bill keeps increasing but there is no way to read the meter. Hopefully the municipality will finally fix this. It has affected not only me but my neighbour as well, as the water flows into his yard,” said Ntuli.

Ngxekana said some ratepayers did not have meters next to their houses. Instead, instead they were told the meters were in another street.

Contacted for comment, OR Tambo spokesman Ayongezwa Lungisa said the billing system was working well.

“The municipality does not agree with the complaint as the municipality has a billing system that is continuously improved to ensure that the bills sent to consumers are correct. All queries raised are constantly attended to and resolved.”

Lungisa said the municipality would be conducting a water meter audit and all meters not working would be replaced.

“The plan of the municipality is to start with this process mid-month after the new water meters have been received.

“Before this process starts, the communities will be informed through print media and radio.

“All persons engaged in this project will have identification tags and the branded municipal fleet will be used.”

He said the new installations were a “revenue enhancement” strategy for the municipality as it would result in an increase in the number of debtors who had never been billed but were connected illegally to the water network. — abongilem@dispatch.co.za